


Perfect

by NotEvenCloseToStraight



Series: Christmas Fics! [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Bucky is shy, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Mush, Happily Ever After, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Oblivious Tony Stark, Romance, Science Conventions, Tony is a nerd, so many feels, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 23:26:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16881270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotEvenCloseToStraight/pseuds/NotEvenCloseToStraight
Summary: Bucky is waiting for the perfect time to ask Tony to marry him.A science convention wasn't exactly what he expected, but it ends up being perfect anyway.Pure Winteriron Christmas Fluff





	Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> This was a commission based on a readers IRL marriage proposal
> 
> So fluffy it might slay you!
> 
> Enjoy!

Bucky had been carrying the ring around in his pocket for weeks.

 _Literally_  weeks.

In fact, he’d been carrying it around ever since they’d walked past it in the display at a jewelry store and Tony had stopped for a second look.

It hadn’t even been a  _look_  that Tony had given the ring. Really it was more of a glance that lingered just a second longer than normal, and a half smile that anyone else in the world would have missed.

But Bucky didn’t miss the smile or the look because he was tuned into everything about  _everything_  about his boyfriend.

A glance a second too long, a barely noticeable smile, and they had gone on with their day without mentioning rings or marriage or anything like that, having lunch together and laughing through a movie before it was time for Tony to meet up with Pepper for a few hours.

Bucky had gone back then, right back to the jewelry store and bought the ring with out any hesitation. The price was outrageous, and the box was too plain to be carrying something so important, but Bucky didn’t care. He slid his credit card across the counter and put the velvet box in his pocket where it had sat for weeks and  _weeks_ while he tried to figure out the perfect moment to ask Tony to marry him.

Really, there had been lots of nearly perfect moments, moments that would have been perfectly nice to propose at, and Bucky knew Tony would have said yes to any of them but he hesitated each time.

Thanksgiving, when the entire team had gone  _en masse_  to three different homeless shelters to help serve Thanksgiving dinner.

Tony had been animated and cheerful while serving and had written a check to each shelter after a quick talk with the person in charge before rolling his shockingly expensive dress shirt sleeves up and scrubbing the floors right along with everyone else..

He was selfless and generous and had quite literally given the coat off his back to a veteran who looked less-than-warm and Bucky thought he loved Tony more right then than he ever had—

—but the moment wasn’t quite right. It didn’t seem right to take the focus away from their acts of service by proposing, so Bucky put the ring away and just kissed Tony on the cheek before pitching in to scrub a table as well.

The annual Stark Industries Christmas Party was another nearly perfect moment.

Tony loathed the party, but Pepper demanded he go anyway, promising he could bring Bucky and show him off.

Tony was  _very_ excited about that idea, and thoroughly enjoyed fancying Bucky up in a coordinating tux and bow tie, obnoxiously shiny shoes and something called a  _cumberbund._

 _God_ , Bucky hated it but Tony all but jumped his bones when he appeared fully dressed in all the new finery, stripping him down and hurrying back to the bedroom for a quickie, so it was alright.

The party was beautiful but still sort of terrible, a huge room full of very rich people wearing very fake smiles, so Bucky and Tony pasted fake smiles on as well, shook hands until Bucky thought his arm would fall off and made their rounds through the room until the band started playing.

“Dance with me, sugar.” Bucky asked, but really he was sort of begging, desperately needing something to do besides choke on overpriced perfume and laugh at terrible jokes. “Give us a break from all this small talk, huh?”

“That sounds amazing.” Tony tossed back the rest of his champagne and let Bucky take his hand, spinning out onto the dance floor.

And there, with the lights glowing in Tony’s eyes and soft music playing in the background, Bucky thought he could propose there, thought about getting down on one knee in front of Pepper and all those other important people and asking Tony to be  _his_ —

—but then he saw the stress lines at the very corner of Tony’s eyes, the strained edges of his smile and was reminded that Tony actually  _hated_  these things, that they were putting on a show for the sake of the cameras and for the sake of publicity.

Bucky didn’t want the proposal to be a moment for everyone else to see, so he left the ring in his pocket and just kept dancing.

A third time Bucky almost proposed, one night when the Christmas tree was lit and the team was sprawled around the living room doing nothing in particular except talking and drinking and humming along to the music coming from the speakers.

All was calm and all was merry and–thanks to the ridiculous amount of multi colored Christmas lights–all was  _bright_ and Tony was happy and relaxed and snuggled into Bucky’s side.

It was a very real temptation to just slide the ring onto Tony’s finger then and to not make a big deal out of the whole thing. Bucky could imagine the way Tony’s eyes would go very wide and then very soft and then he’d smile that smile that was  _just_  Bucky’s for when they were very happy together–

–But Tony deserved more than that. He deserved some attention and some hoopla, he deserved to have his moment in the spotlight, but not too spotlight-ly because Tony really sort of hated all the attention so maybe Bucky should do it when it was just them alone or maybe–

 _Ugh_.

This was exactly why Bucky had been carrying the ring for so long. Lots of moments had been  _nearly_ perfect, not a single moment had been absolutely perfect, so the ring stayed in his pocket.

Bucky made sure Tony was never snuggled up on that side, was very careful to never accidentally let anything slip, and waited and watched, biding his time until he found the most perfect moment.

Then he’d propose.

And please, for the love of all that was holy,  _please_  let Tony say yes.

*******************

The perfect moment, as it was, happened entirely randomly and completely out of the blue and Bucky was caught completely off guard.

“Bucky!” Tony came skidding around the corner into their bedroom, socked feet sliding on the hardwood and nearly sending him careening into the other wall. “Bucky Bucky Bucky!” 

“Easy, sugar.” Bucky grabbed out to steady him, grinning at Tony’s bright eyes and eager smile. “I thought we got you Christmas socks with anti-skid things on them after you nearly fell down the stairs. Where are those ones?”

“They’re in the laundry with my Christmas sweater” Tony stood on his toes and threw his arms around Bucky’s neck, pulling him down for an excited kiss. “So listen, are you busy today?”

“I have nothing planned that can’t include you.” Bucky said automatically, and Tony’s eyes softened at the familiar answer.

Both of them were so busy all the time– Bucky working with Steve and SHIELD, Tony doing whatever it was he did at all times in his lab, and then as Iron Man and as the face and owner of Stark Industries– they were so  _busy_  all the time, that one time Bucky had asked if Tony had time to spend with him and Tony and dropped everything in his hands and very seriously said. “I have nothing planned that can’t include you, Buck.”

Now it was a thing,  _their_ thing, a constant reassurance that even though their lives went in different directions more often than not, and even though some days they only saw each other as they crawled into bed, despite  _all_  of that– they would always make time for each other.

“What did you want to do today, Tony?” Bucky kissed him again, just because he wanted to, just because he  _could_. “Anything particular?”

“I definitely do, but don’t laugh okay?” Tony warned, and Bucky held up three fingers in a scouts honor pledge. “Okay. So I’m a little nerdy–”

“A little nerdy.” Bucky raised his eyebrows. “Sure, if that’s what we’re calling it.”

“That’s what we’re calling it.” Tony dug in his pocket and held up two tickets excitedly. “I got season passes to the big science convention and the first one is today!”

“Science convention.” Bucky repeated in confusion. “The one that you submitted a few projects for earlier in the year?”

“YES!” Tony cried and then looked sheepish when Bucky jumped. “Uh, yes. Yes I submitted a few projects for it. But I’ve been so busy with the team and Iron Man and designing all that tech that I actually haven’t had time to keep up on all the new projects that other people are submitting? So there’s a whole bunch of things I’ve never seen and new inventors and all this cool stuff–” he took a deep breath. “Will you go with me?”

“Um–”

“I know you like science.” Tony rushed on, mistaking Bucky’s pause for disapproval. “And granted, this is a little more hi-tech than the science at the Stark Expo back during the war. I mean, the whole floating car idea was scrapped but the new cars are amazing and you will love them.”

“Well–”

“And I know it’s not exactly Christmas-y.” Tony winced a little. “Not really romantic or holiday themed or anything else, but I thought maybe we could–”

“Tony.” Bucky covered Tony’s mouth with one of his hands, smiling when his genius’ mouth kept moving for a few seconds before he remembered to hush. “Tony, of course I want to go with you. I don’t care if it’s not Christmas-y or whatever. I still want to go with you.”

“ _Really_?”

“Yeah, honey.” Another kiss, and Bucky stepped away, heading towards his dresser. “I just need to change. I was going to go running with Steve and Sam and I don’t think little spandex shorts are appropriate for science conventions.”

“Well, I don’t know about that.” Tony cocked his head to the side and outright  _ogled_  his boyfriend’s rear as Bucky stepped out of his shorts and into some jeans. “I feel like I could conduct a science experiment or two involving spandex shorts. How easy it is to get them wet, how far they stretch, how many sizes we can go down until they start being indecent–”

“Any science done in those shorts has to be done in the bedroom or down in the lab.” Bucky said firmly, but he winked when Tony giggled at him. “Come on. Show me how great the science convention is.”

Tony grabbed his coat and was out the door like a shot, calling behind him for Bucky to hurry up so they could catch all the “good presentations” and Bucky called back, “I  _am_  hurrying, baby! Just gotta get my shoes!”

Well shoes and the ever present ring box of course.

Just in case.

****************

It took an hour and a half to get to the convention, partly because traffic on Friday afternoons was terrible, partly because Tony had insisted on taking the limo instead of one of the cars, “So I have room for all the gadgets I’m going to buy, Bucky!”.

Bucky wasn’t going to complain, not when taking the limo meant he got the chance to tug his love back against his chest and nearly lie down on the bench seat so they were snuggled together. Tony needed lots of snuggles,  _lots_ , but he was always so busy that moments where they could casually hold each other were few and far between.

So Bucky soaked it in, holding Tony close and breathing in the scent of overpriced shampoo and candy canes and his favorite cologne, listening to Tony ramble on about the different presentations they were going to see, the winner of whichever big science award was given out last month, how much the convention had changed since he had started going nearly twenty years ago.

“The Maria Stark STEM Foundation funds a big part of this, you know.” Tony flipped through the pages of a thick brochure about the convention. “Pepper was going through old paperwork, found a proposal submitted by my  _ma_  of all people. All these charts and projections for how we should be encouraging women to pursue science and math and all that sort of thing. My dad never even let it get past discussion stage, but Pepper came across it and I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so excited about a project before. Gave her the reins and let her take over.”

“How’s the foundation doing?” Bucky ran his fingers through Tony’s hair, careful not to disrupt the perfectly styled strands.

“I have no clue.” Tony shrugged and leaned into Bucky’s palm, apparently fine with having his hair mussed. “But I fully agree with the idea. Since men use science and math to build bombs and blow things up, maybe with more women in the field we’d get some  _actual_ advances to help humanity. Besides–” he tossed the pamphlet aside and wove their fingers together with a satisfied sigh. “–Pepper is running it, so I’m sure it’s successful, everything that woman touches turns to gold.”

“It’s sweet how much you love her.”

“It’s sweet how much I love  _you_.” Tony corrected, and smooshed a kiss onto Bucky’s cheek. “I’m glad you skipped your run to come with me. Hopefully me nerding out doesn’t end up being on your turn-off list.”

“Nerdy you is just as cute as sleepy you.” Bucky assured him. “And equally as much of a turn on as when you are all sweaty and worked up after a mission.”

“Okay you say that now?” Tony squinted at him. “But let’s see how you feel when I’ve geeked out for a solid ten minutes over some random element that now reacts differently in a controlled environment than it did just last year which may or may not mean that it’s actually altered it’s composition to produce what is taken as a positive result.”

“You’re talking about elements as if they can choose to change, babe.”

“I KNOW!” Tony fist pumped. “I  _love_  science!”

“My god, you’re cute.” Bucky kissed him, then kissed him again, and Tony inched closer to draw the last one out. “This is going to be a fun day, Tony.”

“It’s going to be a  _perfect_  day.” Tony picked up the pamphlet again and started chattering about some display he absolutely had to make it to, but Bucky’s brain had stuttered to a stop over that one word.

 _Perfect_.

Today was going to be  _perfect_.

He patted the box in his jacket pocket and held Tony just a little bit closer.

Today was the day.

************

The convention was…. Well it was huge. Bucky was in no way prepared for exactly how huge it really was, and Tony had even told the driver to pull around the corner so they could avoid the crowds which meant the front was even bigger and that was simply mind boggling.

There were people milling around everywhere, crowding onto the sidewalks and stopping to look at the booths set up outside. Vendors were selling everything from food to t-shirts and science kits for kids to take home. Some people were in suits and ties, others were in sweatpants and shirts with science jokes, and a few even had costumes on.

“Hey, who is that guy supposed to be?” Bucky asked and Tony didn’t even have to look up to reply, “Probably me. Being Iron Man has really helped my popularity at these things.”

“It’s not you, Tony.”

“Well then I have no idea and I don’t really care.” Tony laughed at him and opened the door. “Come on. We can get through the back here and hopefully get around the worst of the crowds to get our passes! There’s so many things I want to see and buy!”

“Buy?”

“Oh I make it a point to buy something from every booth.” Tony checked his wallet to make sure he had enough cash. “The entire team will be getting science themed presents this year because I’m buying them all today.”

“Bruce will be so thrilled.” Bucky said dryly.

“Yeah, Bruce will be the only one thrilled!” Tony laughed out loud and took off for the steps. “Come on!”

“Hey Tony, Tony wait!” Bucky scrambled out of the limo after him, barely catching Tony’s hand as he started up the stairs. “Just wait a second, babe.”

“Bucky-y-y-y-!!” Tony tried to drag him up the stairs, which was entirely hilarious because there was no way he could move a super soldier by himself. “The convention! Our passes! BOOTHS! Presents! I have to buy things!”

“This will just take a minute, I promise.” Bucky waited until Tony came back, shifting on his feet and chewing at his lip impatiently, but meeting Bucky’s gaze steadily.

“I thought maybe I’d do this inside.” Bucky admitted. “But there’s so many people, I sort of lost my nerve. I think I’d rather do it here if that’s alright.” ”

“Do what?” Tony’s eyes widened when Bucky let go of one of his hands to pull out the ring box, getting down on one knee and offering it up to Tony. “Bucky? What–what are you doing?”

“I’ve been carrying this around for weeks trying to find a perfect moment to propose to you.” Bucky said quietly. “And you’re so happy today. Happy and excited and  _god_ , you’re so beautiful when you’re eyes are all lit up like this and Tony, I–”

Tony put a hand over his mouth and Bucky smiled over the emotion suddenly clogging his throat. “This is a perfect moment and I love you so much. Will you marry me?”

“Oh my god.” Tony’s hands were shaking when he reached out for the ring. “A science convention and a marriage proposal? This is the most amazing Christmas season _!_ ”

“Well, I sure hope so.” Bucky thought he might cry when Tony slid the ring on and it fit perfectly. “Do you like it?”

“It’s the one I liked in the jewelry store?”

“Sure is.”

“It’s beautiful.” Tony looked like he might cry too. “Bucky, this is the best day ever.”

“It will be better if you say yes.” Bucky prompted and Tony threw himself at him, shouting,. “YES YES YES!!!”, smashing kisses all over Bucky’s face and hugging as tight as he could.

“You can tell people it was a better proposal if you want.” Bucky said in between kisses. “I know that on the back steps of the convention center isn’t exactly romantic or special but–”

“Why would I ever change our proposal story?” Tony asked incredulously. “Bucky, this was perfect!”

“You’re sure?” Bucky rubbed his thumb over the ring, already in love with how it looked against Tony’s skin. “It’s not as big as I wanted it to be, you’re alright with it?”

Tony leaned back and winked suggestively, trying his hardest for a smooth Brooklyn accent when he said, “Oh sure thing, sweet thing.”

“That was terrible.” Bucky burst out laughing. “At least change that part of the story when you tell it, alright?”

“Well then you say it.” Tony grumbled, pulling him in for another hug. “Because I like when you say it.”

“Sure thing, sweet thing.” Bucky crooned into Tony’s ear and his  ~~boyfriend~~ fiancee shivered and whispered, “See? This  _is_  perfect.”


End file.
